wagymnasticsfandomcom-20200222-history
Main:Ragan Smith
Snellville, Georgia, USA |Row 4 title = Years on National Team |Row 4 info = 2013-present |Row 5 title = Club |Row 5 info = Texas Dreams Gymnastics NorthWind Gymnastics Center (former) |Row 6 title = Coach(es) |Row 6 info = Kim Zmeskal-Burdette Elena Piskun (former) |Row 7 title = Current status |Row 7 info = Retired |Row 8 title = College team |Row 8 info = Oklahoma Sooners}}Ragan Elisabeth Smith (born August 8 in Snellville, GA) is a retired elite American gymnast and alternate to the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team. She currently trains at Texas Dreams Gymnastics, coached by former World Champion Kim Zmeskal. Prior to moving there in 2013, she trained at NorthWind Gymnastics Center, coached by former Soviet and Belarusian World Champion Elena Piskun. Junior Career 2012 Smith competed in the HOPES division of the U.S. Classic, placing first on floor, second in the all-around and on vault, third on balance beam, and seventh on uneven bars. 2013 Smith qualified for junior elite the following year. Her first elite meet was the Junior U.S. Classic, where she placed sixth on balance beam. Her scores were good enough to qualify her to her first Junior Nationals. There she placed seventeenth in the all-around, tenth on balance beam, and eighth on floor exercise. That fall, she left NorthWind to train under Kim Zmeskal-Burdette at Texas Dreams Gymnastics. She was then invited to a National Team training camp in late October. 2014 In March, she was named to the National Team and selected to compete at the City of Jesolo Trophy, which marked her international debut.Jesolo She contributed to the American's gold medal finish, and finished eighth in the all-around after falling on beam and floor. In early August, she competed at the U.S. Classic, winning floor exercise, and placing twelfth on bars and thirteenth in the all-around. At Nationals, she won silver on beam and floor, but suffered a fall on uneven bars that landed her in seventh place in the all-around, just 0.500 shy of an automatic berth on the National Team. She was added back onto the National Team after the October training camp.back on National Team 2015 Smith competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in March, winning team gold, floor exercise silver, vault bronze, and placing fifth in the all-around. In July, she competed at the U.S. Classic, winning gold on floor, silver in the all-around, bronze on vault, and placing fourth on beam and seventh on bars. In August, she won beam and floor gold and all-around bronze. At the end of the year, her coach announced that Smith had committed to the University of Oklahoma.Oklahoma Senior Career 2016 Smith made her senior international debut at the City of Jesolo Trophy, where she showed off a new floor routine with new music and choreography. She won team gold and individual silver medals in the all-around, balance beam, and floor exercise. She was named to the American team for the Pacific Rim Championships to replace an injured Maggie Nichols, and won team and balance beam gold. In June, she competed on bars and beam at the U.S. Classic, where she unveiled a new Patterson dismount off the beam. She placed sixth on bars and fifth on beam. At the National Championships, she had trouble on floor exercise and balance beam. She placed fifth on beam, eighth in the all-around, eleventh on uneven bars, and thirteenth on floor exercise. Her all-around placing qualified her to the Olympic Trials. There, she placed second on balance beam, fifth in the all-around, sixth on floor exercise, tenth on uneven bars, and eleventh on vault. She was named an alternate to the Olympic team. 2017 Smith was chosen to headline the American Cup in February. There, she overcame a fall on balance beam to win the title over Japan's Asuka Teramoto and France's Melanie de Jesus Dos Santos. In July, she only competed on uneven bars and balance beam at the U.S. Classic, winning gold on both events. In August, she competed at the National Championships. Prior to the competition, there was some minor controversy about her new floor music, as it contained part of the confederate anthem "I Wish I Was in Dixie". Smith and her coaches were unaware of the context of the music and quickly changed it before the first day of competition. She became U.S. National All-Around Champion, and won additional golds on beam and floor as well as bronze on bars. In September, Smith was chosen along with Jade Carey, Morgan Hurd, and Ashton Locklear to compete at the 2017 Montreal World Championships. She was considered a heavy favorite for the all-around title. Despite a fall on balance beam, she qualified second into the all-around and also qualified first on floor exercise. Unfortunately, she injured her ankle in the warm-up gym twenty minutes before the all-around and had to withdraw from that as well as the floor exercise final.ankle injury, AA withdrawalFX withdrawal 2018 Smith returned to competition in early spring. She, along with other members of her gym, traveled to Italy for the City of Jesolo Trophy. They competed as individuals instead of competing as a team. Smith won silver in the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam. In July, she only competed on three events at the U.S. Classic, winning bronze on balance beam, and placing eleventh on the uneven bars. She competed at the National Championships in August, but struggled, as she was still dealing with the ankle injury she had sustained the previous year, and an additional three broken toes.ankle pain, broken toes She placed tenth on balance beam, tenth in the all-around, and eleventh on bars and floor. Smith was named to the U.S.'s tentative team for the World Championships in Doha, Qatar in late October. She was named the alternate after podium training, but still dressed and accompanied the team on the floor to support them during the competition. Smith announced her retirement from elite gymnastics in July to attend the University of Oklahoma in the fall.retirement, OU Medal Count Floor Music 2013-2014 - "Puttin' on the Ritz" by Terry Snyder 2015 - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=609JIqoqhm8 medley from West Side Story] 2016-2017 - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ot6HHT_ALs theme from The Addams Family] 2017 - "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra 2018 - "Opa" by Giorgios Alkaios/ "Opa" by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike Vs. KSHMIR/ "Opa!" by DJ Rocky References